Reference-index.



E. F. DAYTON, DECD.

L. P. DAYTON, ADMINISTRAT RIX.

REFERENCE INDEX. APPLICATEON HLED JAN. 31. 1916.

Patented Ben. 18, 193?.

, ga 5 5% 5 1 7 flayzaecai I .Zucz'e $51 attoama unrrnni sumsemsmwmm ESTEY F. DAYTON, DECEASED, LATE OF NEW YORK, n. Y., Y LUCIE PINGKNEY DAYTON, ADMINISTRATRIX; or New YORK, N. "Y;

REFEREN EJNDEX;

To all whom it may concern J Be it known that Es'rny. F. DAYTON,

deceased, late a citizen of the United States,

and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, in-v vented new and useful Improvements in Reference-Indexes, of which the following is a specification. a

This invention relates particularly to card indexes or vertical files in which the sheets or cards, bearing the record or data, lie close against each other and are arranged in numerical order or alphabetically according to subject matters. Interspersed among the reference cards are guide cards which assist the searcher in determining the approximate location of the desired card. In using a card index of this character, it is necesj sary to finger or pick over one by one .a.

large number of cards before locating the desired card, causing waste of time and an-- noyance. V

The object is to eliminate these defects, and this object is accomplished by providing means, located between the members, acting to spread or fan apart the reference memr bers, so that the numbers, or other identifying matter, placed close to the edges of the cards, will be visible to the eye, resulting in the quick location of, removal and replacing of, the desired card.

In the drawings, forming a part hereof,

Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a well known card index, the individual members of which are provided with means for spreading them apart at their top edges; Fig. 2 is a plan View and Fig. 3 is a section on the line IIIIII of Fig. 2, of a reference card equipped with one form of the means for spreading the cards apart; Fig. 4 is an end view of a number of cards, the springs of some of which are compressed so thatthe cards lie close to each other and others of which are spread apart by the action of the interveningsprings, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of one form of spring device.

. One form of compressible spring device is shown in Fig. 5, and consists of a disk 1 of thin spring metal, having a compressible A reference card 3 has formed in it, preferably near its lower edge, an opening 4,

drawer or container 7 interspersed among Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Deg, 18 1917.: I

Application filed January 31, 1916. Serial No. 75,372,

spring 2, in the formof a cross, of the same material, bent'over so that the ends only of the arms rest upon the disk, each arm, near the central portion of the disk, being] sprung out and'away from the disk.

which reference cards are a number of guide cards 8. Containers or drawers of the type in common'use have at the front end a permanent slant block (not shown) and an adjustable slanting follower block 9 at the rear of the cards, against which blocks the cards This arrangement results in a limitarest. tion'of the space in the bottom of the con tainer in which the cards rest on theirllower edges, but giving ample room to spread apart at their top edges. When any two guide cards or reference cards are moved apart, the spring in each card acts against the next adjacent card to spread the intervening. cards apart and also to raise the cards slightly off the bottom of the container, as shown in Fig. 4, which movements result in spreadmg apart or fanning the top edges of the card It is to be understood that applicant does not limit herself to the precise form of separating means or method of location between the reference members herein illustrated, as she, considers herself entitled to broadly cover all means, located between reference members of an index or file, acting to spread apart saidmembers so as to render visible the reference data on the edges of said members and facilitate their removal and replacement.

I claim: V

1. In a reference member for use in a reference index, the combination of a compressible spring inserted in an opening cut in the face of said member and means for reopening between the surfaces of said card mining said spring in said opening. and acting when uncompressed upon the 2. A reference member for a card index, adjacent card, to move said cards apart, and 1b emnprising a card having in opening theremeans to retain said spring in said opening.

5 in, a compressible spring located in said J LUCIE 'PINCKNEY DAYTON,

openingsaid spring occupying, when com- Adme'm'stmtm'm of Esteg F. Dayton, depressed, substantially only the space in said I ceased.

Copies of this patentinay be'obtained for five cents each, by addres sing the Commissioner of lerents. Washingmn, D. Q, 

